Page 105 of Nico

Hesitantly, I glanced at him unsure what he would want to show me.

“Okay.”

In the daylight, Nico’s mansion was even more grand. Against the blue skies, the whole place shone like a palace, white marble stark against the green lawn and the blue skies.

This whole estate looked like an escape from reality. A reality that was surely coming, with each passing second that ticked by. My growing sense of dread was hard to ignore. But I had to hide it behind a façade. Nico was too perceptive, and I worried he'd see the deceit on my face.

While Nico spoke to his friends outside, and after I greeted the girls, I excused myself to my bedroom to use the restroom. It was a lie. I went into my safe and took documents I would need once we ran. My grandmother’s family had a secret place in Italy, on the coast of Amalfi. We’d start there.

Planting his hand at the base of my spine, he guided me to the left wing of the house.

“My office is this way.”

I nodded and we continued in silence, until we walked through an open doorway. My step faltered. Alexei Nikolaev stood in Nico’s office and an alarm shot through me. He had done nothing but been nice to me, but for some reason, each time I saw him, my self-preservation kicked in. He was scary as shit. One look in his pale eyes, and I saw so much darkness in them that it shook me to my core. He mostly wore a grim expression although I saw him smile once at his sister. From what Isabella explained, there was some complicated family history there.

It would seem we all had a past and shared complications.

“Nico,” he greeted us. “Mrs. Morrelli.”

I guess that was me. “H-hello,” I stuttered, taking a step closer to Nico.

My husband tugged my arm along, tucking me into him and went to shake his hand. Nico’s movements held a note of authority, concealing his ruthlessness and killer instinct beneath his expensive clothes. Alexei Nikolaev, on the other hand, wore it like armor and a badge of honor. It was probably easier to steer away from the likes of Alexei than Nico, though they were both made out of the same cloth.

“Thanks for the favor, Alexei.”

“All good,” he said, tilting his head to the opposite side of the room and my gaze flitted that way.

For a moment, I stood there, feeling disoriented. I blinked my eyes, sure I was seeing things.

“Mom?”

I hardly recognized her. Every single visible surface of her pale skin was blue and purple, yet she sat there, immobile with her back rigid and her eyes dead. I just saw her less than twenty-four hours ago.

“H-how… w-what?” My thoughts scrambled in my brain, trying to process that my mother was here. She was in a bad shape, really bad shape. A bolt of fear shot through me, pulling myself away from Nico, I ran to her sitting form.

I did this to her.

“Mom!” I sobbed, taking her cold hand into mine, lowering myself onto my knees.

My heart raced frantically while I inventoried her state. The mundane observation of my mother’s battered state constricted my heart, making it hard to breathe - a split lip, swollen cheek, pale neck with purple finger marks, cuts, and cigarette burns.

Her eyes met mine, beautiful blues of the sea clashing with my dark gaze. I always wished I inherited my mother’s blue eyes. After I found out about my real father, I wished for it even more. I hated any resemblance I had to that piece of shit.

She lifted her hand and cupped my cheek with it, her touch soft. Her face was a bruised mess.

“Lui sa.”He knows. Her split lip made her words sound off but there was no mistaking the meaning.

“W-what?” I stuttered in fear.

“I’m so sorry, Bee,” she muttered. A single tear trickled down her face, as if she cried so much in her life, she had no more tears to spare.

“No, I’m sorry,” I whispered, my words twisting into a sob and wrapping my arms around her frail body. I should be sorry, not my mother. She endured twenty-six years of abuse for me.

I’m sorry for the pain I caused you, for being conceived by that asshole, for being born, for your sacrifice, and most of all, I’m sorry for not saving you.

But all those words got stuck in my throat. I couldn’t get them out, not with the witnesses in the room.

Turning my head, I met my husband’s and Alexei’s eyes. I should thank them but my throat hurt so bad, I couldn’t utter a single syllable to save my life right now. So I just nodded, biting hard into my lip so I wouldn’t start crying. My mother needed me now.